12/22/2023 0 Comments Scarlet letter summaryThe two lovers unite and Hester undoes “the clasp that fastens the scarlet letter, and taking it from her bosom, throws it to a distance among the withered leaves” (176). In the forest, Hester and Dimmesdale can be alone for the first time in seven years. Furthermore, Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale and Hester’s love to depict the forest as a place of happiness and freedom. Even though the Puritans believe the forest is an evil place, Hawthorne depicts it as an almost holy sanctuary that contrasts with the destructive and unforgiving town. However, Hawthorne describes the Nature of the forest as a “wild, heathen Nature…never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth” (177). The forest is considered a place of evil, where the Black Man dwells. Hawthorne’s use of the forest also emphasizes the Romantic aspect of the novel. In “The Scarlet Letter”, the forest, a symbol of freedom, is contrasted with the town in order to criticize the cruel, strict laws of the theocracy. By contrasting nature with Puritan society, Hawthorne successfully criticizes the Puritans. Hawthorne purposefully uses these descriptions in the beginning of the novel to establish the mood. Hawthorne effectively uses nature to criticize Puritan society by illustrating the prison and scaffold as the embodiment of societal evil. It is also used as a symbol of hope for the town, contrasting with the evil and darkness of the prison and scaffold. The rose-bush, a symbol of Nature, is a completely pure component that has not been “tainted” by the harshness of Puritan society. Hawthorne contrasts the prison and scaffold, the evil symbols of Puritan society, with the “wild rose-bush… might be imagined to offer its fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in…in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him” (46). These women are depicted as merciless people whose religion emphasizes God’s wrath, not God’s love. One of the women even demands that they brand Hester’s forehead with the letter “A” (49). The supposedly moral Puritans are portrayed as people with no compassion for Hester, the “criminal”. During this scene, the women watching take a “peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue” (48). The use of nature to symbolize the prison also establishes a dark atmosphere that sets up the scene by the scaffold, the place of punishment. By representing the prison and scaffold as a gloomy place of punishment, Hawthorne foreshadows the immoral events that are soon to take place. He further emphasizes this symbol by describing the prison’s plot of as “overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation” (45). In this passage, he uses a flower, an element of nature, to symbolize the despair of the prison town. For instance, in the first chapter, Hawthorne describes the town as “the black flower of civilized society” (45). Hawthorne uses a strongly romantic view of nature to emphasize the Puritans’ harshness and lack of compassion. In “The Scarlet Letter”, Hawthorne uses nature as a romantic source for critiquing Puritan life: the harshness of its society, the unjust laws of the Puritan theocracy, and the corruption of the Puritan humanity. One gifted author influenced by Romanticism was Nathaniel Hawthorne, the creator of “The Scarlet Letter”. Nature, a prominent element of Romanticism, is used in these authors’ writings not just for descriptions and images, but also to emphasize major ideas. Throughout the late 18th century and 19th century, Romanticism was a highly popular literary style adopted by many novelists.
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